Facebook Graph API Python API Docs | dltHub

Facebook Graph API is the primary HTTP-based API to read and write to the Facebook social graph (nodes, edges, and fields). The REST API base URL is https://graph.facebook.com and All requests require an access token (app, user, or page access token) passed as a query parameter or in the Authorization header as a Bearer token..

dlt is an open-source Python library that handles authentication, pagination, and schema evolution automatically. dlthub provides AI context files that enable code assistants to generate production-ready pipelines. Install with uv pip install "dlt[workspace]" and start loading Facebook Graph API data in under 10 minutes.

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What data can I load from Facebook Graph API?

Here are some of the endpoints you can load from Facebook Graph API:

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How do I authenticate with the Facebook Graph API API?

The Graph API requires an access token. Supply it either as access_token=TOKEN query param or as Authorization: Bearer TOKEN header. Tokens are app, user, or page tokens depending on endpoint and permissions.

1. Get your credentials

1. Create a Meta Developer account and app at https://developers.facebook.com/apps/. 2) In App Dashboard, under Settings -> Basic, note App ID and App Secret. 3) Configure Facebook Login (if obtaining User tokens) and required permissions. 4) Use OAuth flows (Client OAuth or Server-side) to obtain User or Page access tokens; exchange short-lived tokens for long-lived tokens if needed. 5) For Page data, obtain a Page access token by fetching /{user-id}/accounts with a user token that has pages_show_list or pages_read_engagement and then using the returned page access_token.

2. Add them to .dlt/secrets.toml

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[sources.facebook_graph_source]
access_token = "your_access_token_here"

dlt reads this automatically at runtime — never hardcode tokens in your pipeline script. For production environments, see setting up credentials with dlt for environment variable and vault-based options.

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How do I set up and run the pipeline?

Set up a virtual environment and install dlt:

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uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install "dlt[workspace]"

1. Install the dlt AI Workbench:

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dlt ai init --agent <your-agent> # <agent>: claude | cursor | codex

This installs project rules, a secrets management skill, appropriate ignore files, and configures the dlt MCP server for your agent. Learn more →

2. Install the rest-api-pipeline toolkit:

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dlt ai toolkit rest-api-pipeline install

This loads the skills and context about dlt the agent uses to build the pipeline iteratively, efficiently, and safely. The agent uses MCP tools to inspect credentials — it never needs to read your secrets.toml directly. Learn more →

3. Start LLM-assisted coding:

Use /find-source to load data from the Facebook Graph API API into DuckDB.

The rest-api-pipeline toolkit takes over from here — it reads relevant API documentation, presents you with options for which endpoints to load, and follows a structured workflow to scaffold, debug, and validate the pipeline step by step.

4. Run the pipeline:

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python facebook_graph_pipeline.py

If everything is configured correctly, you'll see output like this:

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Pipeline facebook_graph_pipeline load step completed in 0.26 seconds
1 load package(s) were loaded to destination duckdb and into dataset facebook_graph_data
The duckdb destination used duckdb:/facebook_graph.duckdb location to store data
Load package 1749667187.541553 is LOADED and contains no failed jobs

Inspect your pipeline and data:

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dlt pipeline facebook_graph_pipeline show

This opens the Pipeline Dashboard where you can verify pipeline state, load metrics, schema (tables, columns, types), and query the loaded data directly.

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Python pipeline example

This example loads me and /{page-id}/posts from the Facebook Graph API API into DuckDB. It mirrors the endpoint and data selector configuration from the table above:

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import dlt
from dlt.sources.rest_api import RESTAPIConfig, rest_api_resources

@dlt.source
def facebook_graph_source(access_token=dlt.secrets.value):
    config: RESTAPIConfig = {
        "client": {
            "base_url": "https://graph.facebook.com",
            "auth": {
                "type": "bearer",
                "token": access_token,
            },
        },
        "resources": [
            {"name": "me", "endpoint": {"path": "me"}},
            {"name": "page_posts", "endpoint": {"path": "{page-id}/posts", "data_selector": "data"}}
        ],
    }
    yield from rest_api_resources(config)


def get_data() -> None:
    pipeline = dlt.pipeline(
        pipeline_name="facebook_graph_pipeline",
        destination="duckdb",
        dataset_name="facebook_graph_data",
    )
    load_info = pipeline.run(facebook_graph_source())
    print(load_info)

To add more endpoints, append entries from the resource table to the "resources" list using the same name, path, and data_selector pattern.

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How do I query the loaded data?

Once the pipeline runs, dlt creates one table per resource. You can query with Python or SQL.

Python (pandas DataFrame):

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("facebook_graph_pipeline").dataset()
sessions_df = data.page_posts.df()
print(sessions_df.head())

SQL (DuckDB example):

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SELECT * FROM facebook_graph_data.page_posts LIMIT 10;

In a marimo or Jupyter notebook:

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import dlt

data = dlt.pipeline("facebook_graph_pipeline").dataset()
data.page_posts.df().head()

See how to explore your data in marimo Notebooks and how to query your data in Python with dataset.

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What destinations can I load Facebook Graph API data to?

dlt supports loading into any of these destinations — only the destination parameter changes:

Change the destination in dlt.pipeline(destination="snowflake") and add credentials in .dlt/secrets.toml. See the full destinations list.

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Troubleshooting

Error format

Responses include a top-level "error" object with subfields (message, type, code, fbtrace_id). Handle by inspecting error.code and error.type.

Auth failures

Invalid/expired token returns OAuthException errors (code 190). Ensure correct token type and permissions; refresh or re-authenticate.

Permission/Access errors

Insufficient OAuth permissions or missing feature access returns permission-related errors; request appropriate scopes and app review for production.

Rate limiting / App usage headers

Heavy usage may include X-App-Usage headers; Ads API and some endpoints return X-App-Usage or X-Page-Usage; handle backoff and check returned headers.

Pagination

Collection responses include "paging" with cursors (next, previous) and a "data" array — follow the paging.next URL or use after/before cursors.

Ensure that the API key is valid to avoid 401 Unauthorized errors. Also, verify endpoint paths and parameters to avoid 404 Not Found errors.

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Next steps

Continue your data engineering journey with the other toolkits of the dltHub AI Workbench:

• data-exploration — Build custom notebooks, charts, and dashboards for deeper analysis with marimo notebooks.
• dlthub-runtime — Deploy, schedule, and monitor your pipeline in production.

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dlt ai toolkit data-exploration install
dlt ai toolkit dlthub-runtime install

• How to deploy a pipeline
• How to explore your data in marimo Notebooks
• How to query your data in Python with dataset
• Join the dlt community on Slack